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Read. Follow. Verify.Iowa Senate Bill 455 requires workers' compensation benefits to include overtime, premium pay, and annual cost-of-living adjustments
Last action · February 28, 2025: Introduced, referred to Labor and Workforce. H.J. 477 .Sponsors: Tom Townsend and 8 others
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What This Bill Would Do
Senate File 455 requires weekly workers' compensation calculations to include an employee's overtime and , and mandates an annual cost-of-living adjustment for permanent total disability or death benefits starting January 1.
The measure changes payout formulas for injured workers by factoring in extra hours and previously excluded, while tying ongoing disability and death benefits to federal social security inflation adjustments.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Injured employees
Workers' compensation benefit amounts for eligible employees will now account for overtime and premium pay, and long-term disability or death benefits will receive annual cost-of-living increases.
Employers and insurers
Entities paying workers' compensation claims and premiums must calculate benefit rates using expanded wage definitions that include overtime and premium pay.
Key Facts
- Weekly earnings for daily or hourly workers shall be computed by including overtime and premium pay earned in the last thirteen consecutive calendar weeks preceding the injury.
- The basis of compensation for permanent total disability benefits or death benefits shall increase on January 1 of each year by a percentage equal to the cost-of-living adjustment made by the United States Social Security Administration.
- Gross earnings are redefined to include recurring payments by the employer before deductions, while removing specific exclusions such as overtime from the exclusion list.
- The bill applies calculation rules to employees paid on a daily, hourly, or piecework basis, as well as those employed for less than thirteen weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this bill change the calculation of weekly workers' compensation benefits?
Are permanent total disability and death benefits adjusted over time under this bill?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently passed chamber. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Law.
Procedural history
3 actions- Feb 28, 2025HouseIntroducedIntroduced, referred to Labor and Workforce. H.J. 477 .
- Feb 27, 2025SenateSubcommittee: Driscoll, Alons, and Townsend. S.J. 381 .
- Feb 26, 2025SenateIntroducedIntroduced, referred to Workforce. S.J. 366 .
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Inclusion of Overtime in Workers' Compensation
The legislation removes overtime and premium pay from the explicit list of exclusions under gross earnings, directly altering historical calculation baselines.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.iowa.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy60Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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